


Where worlds collide and days are dark

by 4thofFive



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4thofFive/pseuds/4thofFive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's past comes back to haunt him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Idea based on the Law and Order episode “In memory of.” Teleplay by: David Black & Robert Stuart Nathan. Story by: David Black & Siobhan Byrne. 
> 
>  
> 
> Title from the song Skyfall by Adele and Paul Epworth

 

Danny leaned tiredly against the staff room wall as he waited for the coffee maker to finish filling. After a stakeout last night and maybe three hours of sleep this morning he was exhausted. He could only be grateful that they had no new cases so Super SEAL would be kept caged for a while like the animal he was.

 

Danny couldn’t help the small smile the spread over his face. The SEAL was particularly insane yesterday jumping over moving cars, dangling off buildings and at one particularly memorable moment, lobbing cocoanuts down on a perp. All with the certainty that Danny would be right behind him. The best part of the day was when Steve dove into the water after one of the bad guys. The image of him climbing out of the ocean, the water streaming off his body as his tee-shirt and cargo pants clung to him like a second skin would feature prominently in Danny’s dreams for days to come.

 

“Hey Danno.”

 

Danny almost jumped out of his skin when the man he was fantasizing about spoke almost directly into his ear, his hot breath scorching Danny’s skin. The detective slapped a hand over his heart melodramatically.

 

“Jesus Steven! Warn a guy would you? Freaking ninja!”

 

Steve smiled impishly at his partner and Danny didn’t think it was cute at all!

 

“Whatcha doin’?” Steve inquired as he took up leaning against the wall when Danny moved to the coffee machine to fill his mug.

 

The detective concentrated intently on pouring the hot coffee into his mug so he wouldn’t have to see the way the muscles of Steve’s arms strained against the sleeves of his tee-shirt.

 

“I know you didn’t go to the police academy babe but even a cadet in his first month of training could see I’m getting myself a cup of coffee.”

 

Steve rolled his eyes and favoured Danny with an indulgent smile.

 

“Yes, thank you. I was aware of that. They taught us all about it in BUD/s training.”

 

Danny could help but grin at that. Steve was getting so good at the snide comebacks. A far cry from when he and Danny first met and the Commander would stare at him stony-faced whenever Danny made some smart-assed remark.

 

“So,” Steve asked with an overly casual air, “what are you and Grace doing this weekend?”

 

Danny leaned his butt against the small counter of their tiny staff room.

 

“Grace is leaving tomorrow for a one-week field trip to a couple of the other islands. Rachel is going along as chaperone.”

 

Steve nodded.

 

“Oh that’s right. So…I guess maybe you have some free time?”

 

Danny raised an eyebrow at his partner. Steve and Catherine had broken up in a messy way over a month ago and the two partners had started spending more time together – often with Grace in tow. Danny loved every moment they spent together and couldn’t help hoping…

 

The blonde man cleared his throat and stood up straight.

 

“Could be. What did you have in mind?”

 

“Surfing at the north shore then lunch and…we’ll see after that.”

 

The last words were delivered in a low, deep voice and Danny felt his heart skip a beat at the tone.

 

“Yeah, ok,” the detective replied as calmly as he could. “Sure, that sounds nice.”

 

Danny wrapped his hands tightly around his coffee mug and skirted around Steve to hurry out of the staff room and back to his office. Maybe it was his imagination but he was certain he could feel Steve’s eyes glued to his back as he crossed the bull pen. Danny entered his office and shut the door behind him, grateful for a quiet moment to gather his thoughts.

 

The quiet moment ended when his phone began to ring. Danny put his coffee cup down on his desk and smiled when his sister’s name popped up on the screen. Three years older than him, Diana was his favourite sibling – especially now that Matty had vanished. Yes she bossed him around when they were children but she was funny and smart as hell. Anytime she won an award in school – and she won lots of awards – Danny would be in the front row in the auditorium cheering for her. Now she was a corporate lawyer in New York and the mother of two beautiful children.

 

“Hey TieDi! How are you? Why have you waited so damned long to call me?” Danny teased as soon as he answered the phone.

 

Danny could visualize his sister rolling her eyes from 5,000 miles away.

 

“What? Your fingers are broken? You can’t pick up the phone and call me sometimes baby brother? I guess working on your fancy-dancy task force with that gorgeous Navy SEAL keeps you pretty busy huh?”

 

“Fancy-dancy? What are you 90 years old?” Danny retorted as he sat in his desk chair and leaned back to get comfortable.

 

“Bite me Daniel…how’s Grace?”

 

“Perfect and beautiful as ever,” Danny replied with a grin. “How are Olivia and Bryant?”

 

“Spoiled, lippy and always thinking up new ways to drive me insane.”

 

“So about the same?” Danny laughed.

 

“Yeah about the same,” Diana laughed along with him. “They’re both doing well – Livy loves her ballet lessons and Bryant is supposed to graduate from 10th Grade with honours this year – will wonders never cease.”

 

Danny snorted.

 

“He’s got your brains obviously. Thank god he got Phil’s looks.”

 

Diana barked a laugh at her smart-mouthed brother.

 

“Asshole. Speaking of looks, how is that SEAL of yours? Have you two finally given into your passion for each other?”

 

Danny blushed and turned his desk chair slightly away from his door even though it was closed and he was in his office alone.

 

“First of all he’s not _my_ SEAL and second of all…we’re not…I’m not…we’re just…”

 

Diana chortled wickedly.

 

“Well said Daniel. You can’t even talk about him without getting tongue-tied but you’re not in love with him right?”

 

“How are Mom and Dad?” Danny blurted desperate to change the subject.

 

“Nice change of subject baby brother,” Diana mocked but decided to let him off the hook. “They left two days ago for their vacation. Mom was so excited she was vibrating.”

 

Danny smiled happily.

 

“I don’t blame her. After 43 years together they’re finally having a honeymoon – and in Europe. They’ve never been any farther than Miami.”

 

“I’m so glad we were able to help them pay for at least part of it.”

 

“Me too. I wish I could have been there to see them off at the airport.”

 

“I wish you had been too with mom chattering away a mile a minute and Dad checking and triple checking his pockets for his passport. But…look Toad there’s something else I phoned you about.”

 

Danny flinched momentarily at the use of his childhood nickname. If Steve ever found out he’d never live it down. SEAL and Toad. He could just hear the taunts now.

 

“What’s going on? Is everything ok?”

 

“Yeah, yeah everything is fine,” Diana responded quickly, “I just heard some news from a friend of mine in the DA’s office in Hoboken and I thought you’d want to hear about it from me first.”

 

“Ok?” Danny replied cautiously.

 

“It…well there’s no easy way to say this Danny but they’ve found the remains of Peter Martinelli’s body.”

 

Danny sat upright with a jerk, his throat tightening. He swallowed heavily and could feel a weight lower on his chest as he struggled to take in a shaky breath.

 

“P-Petey? I don’t…where? How?”

 

“It’s kind of creepy but his body was found in the basement of that old brownstone we used to live in on Willow Avenue.”

 

Danny leaned his elbows heavily on his desk and dropped his forehead into his free hand. He shuddered involuntarily.

 

“But…I mean how could they miss that?  They searched the building top to bottom when he went missing. Why didn’t they find him earlier?” his voice was tight with shock.

 

“I don’t know but the whole area is being gentrified now and while they were gutting the place for renovations they found his bones behind this old partially broken down brick wall – he’d been walled in,” Diana responded in a slightly horrified whisper. “They tentatively identified him through the clothes he was wearing but they’re pretty sure it’s him.”

 

Danny swallowed thickly again as his mind drifted back to that afternoon in 1983; the afternoon he hadn’t allowed himself to think about in 30 years.

 

“Danny?” Diana’s voice came gently over the phone and he realized he’d been lost in thought and not hearing what she was saying.

 

“Yeah,” he answered hoarsely.

 

“I’m sorry baby brother. I know this must be hard for you. I just wanted you to hear it from me first in case the Hoboken media called, or the police.”

 

“The police?” Danny answered quickly, a slight edge of panic in his voice.

 

“Well, yeah Danny. You’re a cop. It’s an unsolved disappearance and they’ve just found a body. They’ll probably want to re-interview everyone who was with Peter that day don’t you think?”

 

Danny cleared his throat loudly and sat up.

 

“Yeah, yeah of course you’re right. It’s what I’d do. Sorry I’m just…”

 

“It’s ok Toad. I know this must dredge up a lot of bad memories. Are you going to be ok?”

 

Danny tried to make his voice sound light as he responded.

 

“Yeah. Yes of course. It was a long time ago right? Deep down we always knew he was dead. I’ll be fine.”

 

 

**********

 

Danny shifted restlessly on the bed and moaned in fear. He wanted to get away, wanted to escape but the dream wouldn’t release him.

 

He was being pulled into the old brownstone, his memory providing details of his first childhood home that he was sure he’d long forgotten. He pushed open the ornate doors and walked into the darkened foyer.  It was strangely empty and so quiet his hammering heart beat seamed to echo off the brick walls. An unseen force pulled Danny towards the basement doorway under the main staircase. He struggled to get free, a struggle that had him scrabbling at the sheets covering his body as the dream gripped him.

 

“No,” he moaned softly, sweat beading on his face.

 

The basement was darker and murkier than he’d remembered as a child. Back then he and Petey had played down there for hours racing their Hot Wheels across the cement floor or practicing their sword-fighting skills with the broom handles they’d taken from their mothers’ apartments. They always tried to be quiet but eventually Mr. Smitrovich, the building Super, would clomp down the stairs, dirty white tee-shirt tight around his flabby belly, and yell at them to get lost.

 

Danny couldn’t slow his panting breath. He wanted to run as far and as fast as he could but he was unable to free himself. He heard a soft moan to his right and against his will felt himself being pulled toward a broken down brick wall. Beyond the wall was what seemed like an endless black void. Danny was certain that if he got too close to the wall the void would swallow him whole.

 

“No, I don’t want to,” Danny mumbled now thrashing in the bed.

 

“Danny,” a broken voice whispered from the dream.

 

“No…please!” Danny whimpered.

 

As Danny neared the wall he could hear the rhythmic sound of dripping water and his nose stung with the smell of wet metal and mildew. He shivered in the bone-chilling cold of the basement. Danny’s eyes were drawn into the darkness and he suppressed a cry as he saw the small, twisted body of his best friend Petey lying in a heap on the cement floor of the dusty, narrow space that had been created behind the brick wall.

 

Danny sobbed at the sight of the broken body. Petey was covered in blood, the blue jeans he’d been wearing that day caked with his dried blood. He lay on the floor, his back turned away from Danny, one arm twisted above his head as if he’d been dropped from a great height.

 

As Danny watched in horror, Peter’s head lifted from the floor and turned slowly toward Danny with the sickening sound of grinding bones. He eyes popped open to stare at Danny with dry, empty eye sockets. Danny coughed at the bile rising in his throat.

 

“Why Danny?” Peter’s dry, shriveled lips whispered.

 

“Petey… please,” Danny sobbed.

 

“I trusted you Danny. You were my best friend. I trusted you. It’s your fault.”

 

“I-I’m sorry!” Danny cried as he struggled trying to get away from the wall, his bed sheets ripping as he dug his fingernails into the fabric.

 

“How could you do it Danny? I trusted you.”

 

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Danny pleaded

 

“I was your best friend. You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen. You can’t escape it anymore.”

 

“Please I, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened! N-nothing happened.”

 

“You could have told them Danny. You could have been honest. Thirty years I’ve been behind this wall. For 30 years my mother has waited for me to come home. You could have told them the truth.”

 

“No!” Danny screamed. “No, no, no!”

 

Danny lunged upright in bed, his sweat-soaked sheets tangled around his feet. He nearly tumbled off the mattress as his arms flailed trying to find something to grab onto, something that would hold him in the present and stop him from sinking into the dream again.

 

The blonde man sat crouched miserably on the end of the bed clutching a pillow to his chest and shivering from the sweat drying off his body. He felt his emotions strangling him and tears pooled in his eyes.

 

“God, oh my god,” he whispered brokenly as he dropped his face into his trembling hands.

 

 

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you know which episode of Law and Order this is and how it ends - Shhhh. No spoiling now.

Steve grumbled when the shrill ring of the phone pierced through his sleep. He’d finally fallen asleep an hour ago after staying up too late looking through evidence in his father’s Champ box once again. He lifted his head to glance at his bedside clock. Fuck! Just after 2 a.m. Why couldn’t Hawaii’s criminal element stick to a 9 to 5 schedule?

Steve rolled to his side and grabbed his cellphone. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Danny’s name on the screen. He punched the answer button.

“Danno? Everything ok?”

Danny didn’t answer but Steve could hear his panicked breathing on the other end of the line. Steve sat upright and threw his legs off the bed. He leaned over to turn on the bedside lamp.

“Danny? Babe? What’s going on? Are you ok? Are you in danger?”

“Steve….I,” Danny’s voice sounded small, weak and frightened.

Steve stood up at once and hurried to his bedroom closet.

“Babe, talk to me please. What’s going on?”

Danny cleared his voice loudly and Steve could almost hear his efforts to calm himself.

“Steve, I’m sorry I bothered you. I, I shouldn’t have called it’s just…the dream and….”

Steve wrenched a pair of cargo pants off a hanger then reached over to one of the closet shelves to grab a tee shirt.

“I’m on my way to your place!” Steve announced as he pulled off his sleep pants with his free hand and threw them carelessly on the bed.

“No!” Danny replied, now mortified at his display of weakness. “No Steven you don’t need to come over. I-I’m sorry I shouldn’t have called you. I feel like a fool now. I just had a bad dream.”

Steve held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he struggled to pull on his cargo pants.

“It must have been a hell of a dream for you to call me. I’ve had dreams like that Danny. They freak you out for the rest of the night. You shouldn’t be alone.”

Danny sighed softly suddenly feeling a surge of love for this man who would get up in the middle of the night and race across town just because his partner had a bad dream.

“Steve I…look, could I come to your place instead?”

Steve stopped buttoning his pants and sat down on the bed.

“Yes of course but are you ok to drive?”

Danny rolled his eyes at the worried question.

“Yes mommy.”

“Alright get over here but don’t call me mommy. If you’re into the power kink you can call me Lt. Commander.”

Danny felt his stomach flip.

“Wha-?”

“I’ll be waiting downstairs,” Steve announced firmly then hung up.

**********

Danny didn’t consider himself a weak man but he would admit that being met at Steve’s door with a firm hug from the taller man made him feel stronger and safe for some bizarre reason. Something about Steve tended to make people feel they were being protected by a superhero.

Steve pulled Danny into the house and closed and locked the front door behind him. After setting the alarm he took Danny firmly by the upper arm and tugged him gently up the stairs, all without saying a word.

When the SEAL pushed his partner firmly into his bedroom and shut the door behind them, Danny felt his face flush and he had to jam his shaking hands into his pockets. He turned to look at the determined expression on his friend’s face.

“Steve, what the hell?”

Steve dug into his closet shelves and pulled out a pair of shorts and a well-worn tee shirt and tossed them onto the bed. He gestured toward his ensuite bathroom with his thumb.

“Get changed.” 

“But I…”

“Daniel just get changed then we’ll talk ok? I’m not going to steal your maidenly virtue; I just don’t think you should be alone tonight. The bed is plenty big for both of us.”

Danny opened his mouth to argue then shut it again. It was foolish to argue with Steve when he had decided on something and besides, this might be the only time he and Steve McGarrett would share a bed – might as well enjoy it.

Danny quietly entered the bathroom and shut the door. After he’d changed he reentered the now dim bedroom to find Steve sitting up against the headboard a glass of amber-coloured liquid in his hands. The SEAL patted the space beside him.

“Get in. I’ve poured some scotch for you. Help settle your nerves.”

“I don’t have nerves,” Danny grumbled obstinately as he climbed in between the sheets and sat next to Steve taking the glass to sip the scotch.

Steve watched him carefully for a moment.

“Tell me what the dream was about.”

Danny sighed as he polished off the remainder of the drink and set the empty glass on the bedside table. He shifted nervously then let his eyes drop down to his hands which were clenched on his lap.

“It was…something that happened a long time ago…but it wasn’t real. I don’t know how to...”

Danny huffed in annoyance at his tongue-tied condition.

“I didn’t tell you but my sister Diana called this afternoon – well yesterday afternoon,” Danny amended as he glanced at the clock.

“She told me that…this friend of mine – Peter Martinelli – who went missing when I was a kid…they just found his remains.”

“Jesus,” Steve whispered.

Danny swallowed thickly as the remnants of the dream flashed in his head causing a chill to run up his spine.

“The dream…I dreamt that I was back in the old brownstone building my parents lived in when I was a kid,” he looked over at Steve. “I guess they found his remains in the basement of that building.”

Steve shook his head sadly but didn’t speak. Danny looked down at his hands again.

“But in my dream I was in the building and I was taken down into the basement and I saw him – I saw Pete’s body…he was covered in blood and he…”

Danny swallowed again and rubbed his hands over his face. He jumped slightly as he felt Steve’s arm wrap around his shoulders. After a moment’s stiffness he sank gratefully against his partner’s side.

“He was…his eyes were just hollow sockets and he was talking to me, blaming me. Saying horrible things, asking me why I did it…”

“Why you did what?” Steve pressed gently.

Danny shrugged helplessly.

“I don’t know. I don’t know why he said that. I didn’t do anything to him.”

Steve squeezed Danny’s shoulders and put his free hand over Danny’s tightly entwined fingers. Danny relaxed at the touch.

“You never told me about Peter before. What happened?”

Danny took in an uneven breath. He hadn’t thought about any of this – particularly that day – for years.

“He was one of my best friends. Both our families lived in the brownstone in Hoboken…”

“I thought you grew up in Newark?” Steve interrupted in surprise.

Danny nodded slightly. 

“Mostly I did. We moved away from Hoboken a few months after Petey went missing. My mother couldn’t stand to be there any longer.”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but remained quiet.

“Anyway on that day…Pete and I walked home from school together. We had planned earlier to play kick ball with some of the neighbourhood kids but I wasn’t feeling too well so I told him I was going to lie down for a while. When we got to the brownstone Mr. Smitrovitch, our building’s Super, was sitting on the steps as usual giving us the evil eye. He was such an asshole. All of the kids hated him. Anyway, I climbed the stairs and went to my parent’s apartment and Petey…I’m not sure what happened to him after that. I never saw him again.”

“Did they check out this building Super?”

Danny nodded tiredly. Suddenly he felt drained and empty.

“As far as I know they checked everyone’s alibi. If they had any suspects they never said and they never found any trace of Pete until yesterday.”

“The neighbourhood parents must have been freaked out.”

Danny removed one hand from Steve’s grip and rubbed it over his face.

“Yeah they were. They took turns walking us kids to school and sitting on the stoops watching over us at night until we all went in for bed. My parents were particularly upset because they weren’t home when it happened. They’d gone to Atlantic City for a Firefighters convention. My grandpa – my Mom’s dad – was staying with us. I remember he helped in the search.”

Danny slumped more heavily against Steve as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“My mother was so upset my Dad had to transfer to the Newark Fire Department and we left Hoboken as soon as we’d finished school. I didn’t think anything would take my mom away from the old neighbourhood with her parents five blocks away.”

Danny’s eyes drifted shut and Steve smiled gently at his partner. The scotch was doing its work. Steve shifted the arm he had around Danny so that he could stroke his partner’s hair gently. It upset him that Danny had been so freaked out by his dream but part of him was glad that Danny had come to him and that he finally had the smaller man in his bed, even if it was just to sleep.

“C’mon Danny,” he whispered gently. “Let’s get you under the covers so you can sleep.”

A strangely malleable Danny allowed Steve to shift him so he was lying flat on the bed, his arms wrapped tightly around a pillow.

Steve leaned over and switched off the bedside lamp and slid down onto the mattress. He turned his head to gaze at a sleeping Danny for a moment. Something was wrong about the story Danny had just told him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe it was the fact that Danny hadn’t told him about it before. Being friends for four years they’d shared just about everything but this huge experience in Danny’s life? Steve knew nothing about it. He didn’t even know that Danny and his family had once lived in Hoboken.

Steve sighed softly and turned on his side to get comfortable. He and Danny would talk more in the morning but right now, they both just needed sleep.

**********

Steve scrolled irresolutely through the report he was completing for their latest case. He fucking hated doing paperwork and wondered if he could find a way to coax Danny into filling out this form. He sent a brief prayer of thanks up to heaven when his phone rang pulling him away from drudge duty.

“McGarrett,” he barked into the phone hoping the call would be a new case and the team could get out of the office for a while.

“Commander McGarrett? My name is Walter Collier and I’m a detective with the Hoboken Police Department.”

Steve sat up straight and glanced through the glass walls of his office into Danny’s. His partner was typing rapidly on his keyboard.

“Yes Detective?”

“I’ve been trying to get hold of Detective Sergeant Danny Williams all day but have only been able to access his voice mail. Do you know how I can track him down?”

Steve frowned at that. Danny had been in his office all day. There was no way he wasn’t getting the messages.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that Detective but he’s been out on a case all day at a part of the island that doesn’t get very good cell phone service. I expect him back any time though. Can I take your number and have him return your call?”

Collier thanked Steve and rattled off his office and cell numbers and asked Steve to tell Danny that he could call at any time and not to worry about the time difference.

“I’ll be sure to pass on that message Detective.”

“Oh and Commander, before you go I have kind of an odd favour to ask. I know it’s unconventional but we were hoping that you might agree to give Detective Williams some time off to fly to Hoboken and assist us with this case – at least for a couple of days. I know it’s unusual but the detective has an impressive record of arrests and that, combined with his knowledge of the case, of Peter Martinelli and of the neighbourhood, might provide some new lines of inquiry for us.”

Steve licked his lips nervously and glanced over to Danny’s office again. Something told him this idea would not be happily received by his best friend.

“I’ll talk to him about it,” Steve promised the Hoboken detective. “I’m fine with the idea but it’s up to Danny. I’ll see what he says.”

Steve heard the detective breath out a relieved sigh.

“Thank you Commander. Even though we’ve found Peter’s remains we still don’t have a lot of leads. We really want to solve this case so any assistance Detective Williams could lend would be much appreciated. Please tell him as well that the Hoboken Police Department will pay for his flight and accommodations.”

“OK,” Steve agreed, “As I said I’ll talk to him.”

“Thanks again Commander.”

Steve was about to hang up the phone when a thought popped into his head.

“Before you go detective can you tell me one thing? What was Peter Martinelli’s cause of death?”

“It wasn’t obvious from the state of the remains but our medical examiner is pretty sure he was stabbed to death based on the cuts and gouges in his rib cage.”

Steve pulled the corner of his mouth between his teeth.

“OK…yeah…thanks Detective.”

After hanging up the phone, Steve sat in his office for several minutes going over everything both Collier and Danny had told him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Danny was leaving something out. That there was something he wasn’t talking about.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Steve walked quietly into Danny’s office and pulled the door closed behind him. Danny looked up and smiled at the taller man.

“Hey. You give up on doing the paperwork already? Am I going to get an e-mail with a whole lot of attachments any minute now?”

Steve gave him a small smile as he sat down in one of Danny’s desk chairs.

“Well, maybe but that’s not why I’m here.”

Hearing the serious tone in Steve’s voice, Danny turned away from his computer to face his partner.

“Everything ok?”

Steve regarded his best friend carefully.

“Danny I just got a call from a Detective Collier in the Hoboken Police. He said he’s been trying to get hold of you all day but that you haven’t returned his calls.”

Danny’s eyes flashed with something like guilt but he shrugged as if trying to appear nonchalant.

“Oh, yeah. I heard the message. I was going to get back to him but I got caught up in my work. I’ll call in the morning.”

“He said you could call anytime…”

“I’ll call in the morning ok?” Danny snapped turning back to face his computer and avoid his partner’s eyes. “A few more hours isn’t going to make much difference now is it?”

Steve raised an eyebrow at his friend’s suddenly defensive behaviour.

“There’s more Danny. Collier asked me if it would be ok if you flew to Hoboken and helped them with the case. I told him it was fine by me.”

Danny swiveled his chair back towards Steve with a jerk.

“You what? You decided it was ok? What the hell Steven? How about discussing it with me first?”

Steve forced himself to remain calm. Something was going on with Danny and arguing with the detective wouldn’t help him get to the bottom of it.

“I didn’t ask you first because I just found out,” he replied reasonably. “Besides, I think it’s a good idea. You haven’t been home since you moved to Hawaii and with your skills you might be helpful to them.” 

Danny snorted in derision.

“I doubt that very much. I’m sure the Hoboken police are more than capable of investigating this murder. I really don’t see what they expect me to accomplish.”

Steve folded his lips together tightly and leaned forward until his forearms were resting on his knees.

“What’s going on with you Danny? Why are you doing everything you can to avoid talking about or thinking about this case?”

Danny threw his arms out to the side in disbelief.

“First of all I’m not avoiding anything and second of all, it’s not exactly a happy subject for me to discuss.”

Steve shook his head dismissively.

“No, that’s not it. I understand that this is difficult for you but you’ve never avoided a difficult case no matter who was involved. I think there’s something else going on here. Either something you’re hiding or something you’re repressing.”

Danny stared open-mouthed at Steve for a moment, his eyes wide with shock.

“What are you…?” his voice rasped, “are you suggesting I was involved somehow? You’re thinking maybe I killed Peter?”

Steve sat up and backhanded the air as if batting away Danny’s words.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I don’t think you killed your friend or that you were involved. But I do think something else is going on inside of you. Maybe something you’re not aware of, something that your mind has kept hidden all these years to protect you.”

Danny snorted again and shook his head as he turned back to his computer and began the process of shutting it down.

“Well, thank you Dr. Phil for that insightful analysis but you’re full of shit.”

Steve sat back in his chair, his eyes never leaving Danny’s now flushed face.

“OK Danny then answer me this: if you don’t know anything about what happened to Peter that day, why did you dream about him covered in blood?”

Steve watched in sympathy as Danny’s face went pale. The blonde detective turned his chair slowly so he was facing Steve again.

“What?”

“You told me this morning that in your dream Peter was covered in blood. Detective Collier just confirmed to me that he was stabbed to death. How could you know he was covered in blood if you don’t know something about the crime?”

Danny licked his lips slowly as his eyes darted around the room before resting again on Steve’s face.

“Well obviously…look Steven I’ve been a cop for 17 years, I’ve seen a lot of murdered people and most were covered in blood. It’s not a great leap that my imagination would conjure up that image is it?”

Steve sat quietly for a moment. Danny was right it wasn’t that hard to believe. But that didn’t change his feeling that Danny knew something he couldn’t or wouldn’t share. He nodded once in agreement.

“OK, maybe so, maybe I’m wrong and if I am I apologize but I think you should fly to New Jersey and help the cops there. You’re a great cop and they need your help.”

Danny seemed to shrink in his chair. 

“I…I really don’t see how I can help and Grace and I…”

“Grace is going on that week-long field trip. You told me that yourself.”

Steve stood up and walked over to his partner’s desk and perched down on the corner of it, his body only inches from Danny’s.

“Danny…I think you need this. I think you need the closure. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Petey.”

 

**********

Danny stood in front of the large glass windows that looked out over the night time view of Honolulu International Airport’s landing strips. Kono had dropped him at the airport in the evening saying something had come up for Steve and he apologized for not being there.  
Danny’s flight was due to start loading any time now and he had to actively fight against the urge to turn and run from the airport.

What was wrong with him? He should be happy to be returning to New Jersey for a while – even for such a terrible reason – but each time he thought about going back to Hoboken, back to the old neighbourhood, he felt his gut clench with a fear he couldn't name.

The fact that his parents weren’t there didn’t help. He was certain that if he could visit with his Mom and Dad for a while it would help calm him but they were on day three of their 16 day European adventure.

Danny drew in a heavy breath and leaned one shoulder on the thick glass that separated the observation area from the outside world. He’d never felt this way before, so keyed up and nervous and…frightened? He shook his head in disgust at himself. What the hell did he have to be frightened about? Danny stood upright suddenly when a familiar feeling of warmth and comfort washed over him. He turned and cast his gaze around the crowded terminal until he caught site of Steve marching towards him, a look of determination on his face and an overnight bag slung over one shoulder.

Danny’s mouth opened and closed uselessly for a moment as his partner approached and stopped a couple of feet in front of him.

“Steve what are you…?”

Steve pushed his chin out as if preparing for an argument.

“There’s no way I’m letting you do this alone. I’m going with you.”

Danny knew he should argue, knew he should insist Steve go back to work and stop fussing. Instead he surged forward and threw himself against his partner sighing in relief as strong arms wrapped around him.

The two held each other for a moment, unconcerned about the looks they were drawing from others. Finally Danny pulled away slightly so that he could look up at the taller man.

“Steve I, I’ve been wanting to tell you something…” his voice dropped away as his breath was taken by the gentle, loving smile that lit up Steve’s face. The SEAL raised one hand to brush the knuckle of his index finger down the side of Danny’s face.

“Me too Danno,” he whispered hoarsely, “Me too.”

Danny pressed the side of his face into Steve’s chest and tightened his arms around the man he loved.

He and Steve hadn’t exactly given each other a passionate declaration of love but it was enough for him. It was enough for them.

**********

“Do your grandparents still live in Hoboken?” Steve asked as he steered the rental car onto Observer Highway and headed toward the downtown police station.

“Grandma died about 10 years ago but Grandad still lives here. He’s in a retirement home.”

“We should stop and visit him while we’re here.”

Danny shifted in his seat and his eyes darted out the passenger side window.

“He’s not here right now. He’s off visiting my Aunt Milly in Florida. He’s been there a while.”

Steve shook his head sadly.

“It’s too bad we came at a time that your entire family is away. Maybe we can visit Diana at least.”

“Yeah,” Danny replied with little enthusiasm. “Let’s see how the time goes.”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and glanced over at his partner. After all of the years Danny talked about coming back to New Jersey it was strange that he was finally here and seemed determined to leave as soon as possible.

“It must have been great having your grandparents live so close when you were little. Did they take care of you a lot?”

Danny looked over and a small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah they did. With Mom working at the bank and Dad working as a firefighter they were around a lot – especially Granddad. He was in his mid-50s when we lived here but he always seemed so cool. I adored him and so did my friends, Petey especially. Pete’s dad ran out on him and his mom when he was a baby and Granddad was kind of the male figure in his life.”

Steve smiled back as he turned onto Hudson Street and approached the Hoboken Police Department headquarters. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah,” Danny’s voice took on a far away quality.

“I’m surprised you never mentioned your grandfather before,” Steve pressed gently.

“He umm…after we moved you know…I guess we drifted apart…Looks like we’re going to have some trouble finding a parking space,” Danny observed craning his neck to see if anything was available.

It was an obvious attempt to deflect the conversation but Steve chose to let it drop. He and Danny had sort of half-assed admitted their feelings for each other in Honolulu but that didn’t mean the Jersey native was ready to spill every bit of family gossip right away.

**********

Danny and Steve spent several hours in the Hoboken detectives’ squad room looking over the evidence and reading the witness statements from 30 years ago as well as the re-interviews. 

“Looks like Mr. Smitrovich was cleared of suspicion fairly quickly,” Danny observed as he stared at the picture of the cranky old building Super who had tormented the neighbourhood kids for so long. The mug shot attached to the file had been taken when Smitrovitch had been a petty criminal in the 60’s. He was younger but still looked like a creep.

“Yeah,” Collier replied as he closed another dust covered old file folder and shoved it aside. “He was a real bastard and the cops at the time liked him for this but he was at his local bar from the late afternoon until well into the night. He had a dozen witnesses.”

Reading over his own statement again, Danny was surprised just how much of that night he couldn’t recall. He remembered getting home about 4 p.m. and going to lie down on his bed feeling sick. His grandfather brought him in some juice at about 4:30 and everything else was a blank. He vividly remembered the next afternoon and the police coming by to interview him but his statement didn’t offer much to go on.

Danny jerked out of his reverie when Steve laid a warm hand on the back of his neck.

“You look drained babe. Maybe we should go to the hotel.”

Danny glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was 5:30 p.m. – 11:30 a.m. in Honolulu. Since they’d left Hawaii last night just after 10 p.m. and Danny hadn’t slept much on the plane, he realized he’d been up all night and most of the day.

“Yeah,” he replied with a weak smile. “I’m dragging my ass.”

Detective Collier, a friendly, round-faced man in his early 50’s smiled ruefully at Danny and Steve.

“Sorry I should have let you go hours ago. You both must be exhausted. Maybe we can pick this up sometime tomorrow?”

Danny sighed in annoyance as he stood from his chair, his muscles tight from sitting too long.

“I really don’t know what you expect to get out of this Detective. It looks to me like the cops 30 years ago did a good job on the investigation and you and your partner are doing a good job now. I’m just a cop like you, not a magician! Do you expect me to pull the murderer’s name out of a hat?” Danny’s voice had risen in anger and the other detectives in the room turned to look at him quizzically.

“Danny,” Steve admonished gently. “The man is just doing his job.”

Danny snorted in disgust then seemed to deflate, his anger burning out as quickly as it had risen. He held his hands over his face for a moment and worked to slow his breathing.

“I-I’m sorry I just, I’m tired and…”

“It’s ok,” Collier replied gently.

Danny turned to face Steve.

“I’m just gonna hit the john before we leave. I’ll be right back.”

Steve nodded and stepped aside to let Danny pass by him and walk out of the squad room towards the bathrooms.

Steve turned back to Collier and gave him an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry Detective. He’s not usually like this it’s just…this whole thing has him pretty upset.”

Collier nodded quickly.

“It’s fine. I understand. No need to apologize. I know we were being overly optimistic that having him here might uncover something but we’re desperate to solve this case.”

Steve sighed tiredly.

“This homecoming would be a hell of a lot easier if his family was around and he could visit with them but with his parents in Europe and his grandfather in Florida…” Steve’s words faded away with the odd expression on Collier’s face.

“What?”

“His grandfather? Mr. Reilly?”

“Yeah?”

“He’s not in Florida. We interviewed him at his retirement home yesterday. He’s in a wheelchair now. He hasn’t been able to travel in years.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm early posting this chapter but I have a busy week planned so I thought I'd do it tonight. The last chapter will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Danny and Steve lay on the bed sharing lazy kisses. After spending most of the day at the police station the two had grabbed a quick nap then gone out for dinner before returning to the hotel early. They had originally booked two rooms in the hotel but decided to give one up and stay together. Now as they lay tangled in each other’s arms, their hands gliding softly across each other's half-naked bodies, Steve felt his cock begin to fill and he longed to undress Danny and do all the dirty, sweaty things to him that he’d dreamt about for four years.

As Steve ran his tongue over Danny’s neck he heard the blonde man sigh softly. He lifted his head to see the regretful expression on Danny’s face. Steve had noticed that while he was half-hard, Danny’s penis was soft and as yet unresponsive but he thought maybe his partner had a higher boiling point than he did.

“I’m sorry babe,” Danny whispered tentatively. “I just can’t seem to…”

Steve cupped Danny’s face with one hand and gave the smaller man a loving smile.

“It’s ok Danno. I understand. You’re upset and distracted and…”

“It’s not ok!” Danny snapped as he thumped his fist down on the mattress. “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me. I’m alone in a hotel room with the most gorgeous man I’ve ever known, a man I’ve been in love with and lusted after for four years and I can’t even get it up!”

Danny’s eyes filled with angry tears and he turned his face away from Steve. If the SEAL weren’t lying on him Steve had no doubt Danny would have bolted from the room.

“Hey, hey it’s ok,” Steve assured the now upset man, running his hand up and down his arm. “Nothing has to happen tonight. It probably shouldn’t anyway since we’re still pretty new in this thing. You’re under too much pressure and strain. When that’s gone everything will work the way it should. Why don’t we stop worrying about having sex and just enjoy being together?”

Danny nodded abruptly but it was obvious he was still upset.

“I feel like I’m disappointing you – you and Collier and the whole fucking Hoboken Police Department. Peter was my friend and I can’t help him, I can’t remember anything useful. I can’t seem to do anything right.”

Steve sat up to sit cross-legged on the mattress. He pulled at Danny’s upper arm until the blonde man was also sitting up against the headboard of the bed.

“Danny, I want you to listen to what I have to say and hear me out ok?”

Danny looked over at his partner warily but nodded.

“I have a lot of experience with emotional trauma and the effects it can have on the human mind. I’m not a psychiatrist obviously but I believe you may be suppressing the memories of that day and that’s causing you a lot of emotional upheaval.”

Danny wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“You said that before but I don’t think so. Suppressing memories? I’m sorry but that makes no sense. I wasn’t the victim that day, Peter was. Besides I’m a cop. After all of the crime and tragedy I’ve seen over the last 17 years surely the memories would have surfaced by now.”

Steve shook his head and shifted closer to his friend putting a warm hand on his thigh.

“I don’t think so. Whatever happened, whatever you saw or experienced may have been so shocking and devastating that your brain locked it away. That’s why you can’t seem to remember much of the afternoon that Peter vanished.”

Danny opened his mouth to argue but Steve put up a hand to stop him.

“Babe, think about how you’ve been over the past few days. You avoided Collier’s phone calls, you tried to keep from flying to New Jersey and you lied to me about your grandfather being in Florida.”

Danny flushed in embarrassment. He hadn’t realized Steve had found out the truth about that.

Steve uncrossed his legs and slid over the bed to sit next to Danny so they were pressed against each other hip to shoulders. He picked up one of Danny’s hands and held it firmly.

“Danno…I know this is going to be hard for you but I think we need to go back to your old neighbourhood.”

Danny’s body jerked slightly at that and Steve held his hand even tighter as if to prevent the smaller man from running. 

“I know you don’t want to but this may be the only way to unlock the memories you’ve been suppressing. It may be the only way to finally get to the truth.”

Danny took in a ragged breath and chewed on his bottom lip nervously.

“I don’t…” he huffed in disgust at himself. “I’m scared. Isn’t that stupid? I’m scared.”

Steve released Danny’s hand and wrapped his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders. He pressed his lips to Danny’s temple and the blonde man’s eyes fluttered closed.

“I know babe but I will be with you the whole time. You won’t be alone.”

Danny turned his head and buried his face in Steve’s warm neck. He shuddered slightly.

“I love you Steve.”

Steve began stroking Danny’s face gently with his free hand.

“I love you too Danno and I’ll be with you every step of the way. I promise.”

********

Danny climbed out of the rental car and looked up at the old brownstone row house that had been his home for the first eight years of his life. He hadn’t appreciated then how beautiful the old building was with its Italianate architecture complete with wrought iron doors and intricately carved cornices. Adult Danny could admire the beauty of the building but the child in Danny felt strangely repelled by it.

Danny realized he’d been standing on the sidewalk staring up at the building for some time when Steve took hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Ready?”

Danny swallowed hard and gave Steve what he hoped looked like a brave smile. 

“Yeah.”

The two climbed the wide stone steps of the building hand-in-hand. On any other day Danny would have told Steve that two men walking around Hoboken hand-in-hand might attract unwanted attention but today he didn’t care. Steve was the anchor holding him in place.

Steve pushed open the doors and they entered the foyer of the building. It wasn’t exactly as Danny had remembered it in his dream, the doorway to the basement was off to his left, not under the staircase. Somehow that comforted him; maybe he hadn’t actually seen anything that day. Maybe his imagination was just playing tricks on him.

“Up or down?” Steve asked gently. They had discussed seeing both the place that Peter’s body had been found in the basement and Danny’s family’s old apartment on the second floor. Neither held much appeal for Danny but he hoped maybe seeing the apartment first might be easier.

“Up,” he replied quietly.

The two men began climbing the stairs to the second floor. The hallways had new drywall on the walls and were in the process of being taped and plastered. A long length of plastic protected the original hardwood floor from the construction.

Letting go of Steve’s hand, Danny led the way down the hallway towards unit 206. He stopped at the door and closed his eyes for a moment and just breathed. He felt Steve put a hand on his shoulder.

“OK babe, as much as you can I want you to tell me in detail what you did when you came home that day.”

Danny nodded and licked his lips nervously. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened easily and he stepped into world he both recognized and had never seen before. Like the rest of the building, the old apartment was being renovated. The living room had been drywalled and was waiting for taping and plastering but the hallway and the rooms beyond had been taken back to the studs and he could see almost through to the outside wall. Despite the chaos, Danny remembered vividly the layout of the rooms and half expected to see his mother come around the corner to give him a kiss hello.

“I came home and my grandfather was sitting on the sofa reading the paper,” Danny began reciting almost mechanically.

“I told him I wasn’t feeling well, that my throat was sore and I was achy.”

Steve nodded but didn’t speak.

“He came over and put his hand on my forehead,” Danny smiled at the memory. “He wasn’t a big man but he had big hands from all the hard work he had done in his life.”

Danny took a few steps into the living room.

“I-I remember I wanted to lie down on the sofa and watch TV but he said it would be better if I went to my room, got in my pajamas and had a nap first.”

Danny turned as if in a trance and walked down the now-gutted hallway then turned at the entrance to the second bedroom on the right.

“I did like he said. I got into my pajamas and crawled into bed. I remember tucking the blankets up to my neck because I felt so cold. I must have dozed for a while because a little later I heard my grandpa come into the room with a cold glass of orange juice and a thermometer. He took my temperature and said I had a fever. I drank a few sips of the juice and I remember it felt so good on my sore throat.”

Danny stopped and took a moment to look around the room. Although the walls had been torn off, Steve could see his partner visualizing where everything had been when he occupied the room 30 years ago.

“Where were your sister and brother?” Steve asked gently trying to get Danny back into the story.

“Umm,” Danny cast his mind back to that day. “I think Diana was having a sleepover at a friend’s house and Matty, he was little still so he went with Mom and Dad to the convention. I remember being so pissed that he got to go and I didn’t.”

Steve nodded.

“What then Danny?”

“I, I guess I went back to sleep because when I woke again it was dark.”

“Did you get up out of bed?”

Danny pondered that for a moment then nodded.

“Yeah, I remember I wanted to brush my teeth so I went to the bathroom.”

Danny walked out of his old bedroom then turned right to walk down the hall to the bathroom. Its door was open and although its walls had also been taken back to the studs, the old, original claw foot bathtub was still in place.

Danny entered the room with Steve close behind him. The blonde man turned in a full circle then stopped as he faced the tub. Suddenly he cried out and began to gasp for air, his eyes wide with horror. His knees buckled and Steve was only just able to grab him before he hit the floor.

“Danny? Danny what’s wrong? What do you see?” Steve demanded fearfully as he gently lowered the smaller man to his knees and crouched beside him.

Danny shook his head and sobbed once as he slapped his hands over his face.

“No…no I don’t want to.”

“Danny!” Steve barked giving his partner’s shoulders a firm shake, “Tell me what you see! Tell me Danny!”

“My-my grandfather he’s…he’s leaning over the tub. The-the water is running and he’s…” Danny choked back nausea as he dropped his hands from his face and gripped his thighs tightly. “He’s washing blood off himself. He’s covered in blood!”

 

**********

Danny wrapped his cold hands around the hot cup of coffee Steve gave him and took a sip. He was sitting on one of the chairs in his and Steve’s hotel room while Steve perched on the arm, one hand resting on Danny’s back.

Detective Collier and his partner Detective Diaz sat across from them on the couch. An audio recorder sat on the coffee table between them and Diaz also balanced a notebook on his knee.

“He got angry when he saw me,” Danny continued the statement he was making to the two officers. “I’d never seen his eyes like that, so cold and wild. I remember being terrified that he would hurt me.”

Danny leaned forward to put the coffee cup on the table then sat back and rested his head against Steve’s side.

“He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to my bedroom. He told me to forget what I’d seen. He told me I was hallucinating and I should just be a good boy and keep my mouth shut.” 

Danny shuddered and Steve slid his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders and pulled him tighter against his side.

“I tried to ask him what had happened. Had he hurt himself? But he…he told me to shut up. He yelled it at me almost hysterically. I’d never seen him like that,” Danny repeated in a whisper. “He told me to get back into bed and forget what I’d seen or…or he’d make me regret it. He said he’d hurt me if I ever spoke of it. He said he’d hurt Diana and Matty too.”

“What did you do then,” Collier probed gently.

Danny tucked his chilled hands under his upper arms and shrugged slightly.

“I was so terrified. I loved him so much, I trusted him and I was terrified of him now. I did what he said, I got back into bed. At first I couldn’t sleep but he came in the room with more juice and ordered me to drink it. I remember doing what he said and I started to feel weird, lightheaded and floaty. I heard him leave the apartment and I went to sleep. The next morning when I woke up he was so normal and acted so calm that I believed I had dreamed it all.”

“What about when the police came to visit you later the next day?” Diaz questioned.

Danny shook his head and looked up at Steve for a moment before looking back at the two detectives.

“I’d convinced myself it was all a dream. The details were already starting to get hazy. When they told me Peter was missing I didn’t connect the two – or I didn’t want to. I remember my grandfather stood behind me with his hand on my shoulder while they were talking to me.”

Danny huffed out a cold, humourless laugh.

“I thought he was standing there to protect me but he wasn’t. He was protecting himself, reminding me to keep my mouth shut.”

Danny took in a shuddering breath.

“By the time my parents got home everything was a blur and I was totally convinced I’d imagined seeing my grandfather like that.”

“You told me that you drifted away from your grandfather after that and you never saw him much after you moved to Newark,” Steve reminded him gently.

“Yeah I…I never could explain to myself or anyone else why but I hated being around him after that. Whenever my family went to visit my grandparents I always tried to find an excuse not to go. By then I had totally blocked out the memory of seeing my grandfather covered in blood but some part of me must have remembered and must have known what he’d done for me to recoil from him like that.”

“Did your grandfather ever bring it up again?” Diaz asked. “Did he ever threaten you again?”

Danny shook his head slowly.

“No…not in so many words but sometimes, when I did have to visit him, I’d see him staring at me with this hard, cold look that gave me shivers.”

Collier sighed softly.

“I’m sorry about this Detective Williams. We had hoped that bringing you here would offer some new information but we didn’t expect this.”

“What will you do now?” Steve asked the two officers.

“Now we’re going to head over to the seniors’ home and interrogate Mr. Reilly.”

“I want to come with you,” Danny announced firmly.

He felt Steve stiffen beside him.

“Danny I don’t think…”

“Steve,” Danny responded firmly as he looked up at his partner. “For 30 years I’ve repressed this and let that old bastard get away with murder. That’s what Petey meant in my dream – that I’d let him down and betrayed him. It was my subconscious trying to make me remember but I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t let it come out and for three decades Peter’s mother has wondered where her son was. I could have told the police what happened but I was too afraid and Peter lay behind that wall all of those years.”

“You were a child Danny,” Steve reminded him. “You were just a little boy.”

Danny nodded once and stood up.

“Well I’m a man now and a cop and that old bastard is not going to get away with this.” 

He turned to face Collier and Diaz. 

“I won’t get in your way, I won’t interrupt but I want to be there when you question him. Maybe if he sees me and sees I’m not afraid anymore he’ll tell the truth and finally admit to killing Peter.”

 

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who followed this and especially to those of you who took the time to comment. It means a lot to me.

Arnold Reilly looked up from the TV program he was watching when one of the staff of the Riverview Rest Home opened the door to his small, overheated suite and announced there were some gentlemen from the police here to visit him. He didn’t spot Danny right away giving the detective a chance to examine the elderly man he hadn’t seen in over 10 years.

At one time his grandfather had seemed so big and powerful. He was never a tall man – probably 5’ 6” – but he’d once had a large chest and powerful arms from years of doing manual labour. Now the old man was wizened and hunched over spending his days sitting in his wheelchair in front of a blaring TV in a room painted an institutional yellow and surrounded by pictures of his brief glory days as an amateur prize fighter.

To Danny, Arnold Reilly had always been larger than life, a hero who commanded a room. Now he recognized him for what he was, a bully, a coward and a child murderer. Danny felt almost sick at the sight of him and had to turn away for a moment. He looked up to see Steve smiling at him reassuringly as if trying to give him strength. It worked.

Danny turned back to where Detectives Collier and Diaz sat on the small love seat in front of Reilly. The old man was now staring at him openly at Danny.

“Danny? Is that Danny?”

Danny took a couple of steps closer to the old man so that he could see him. He pressed his lips together and gave the old man a hard, angry stare.

“It’s me Granddad.”

“Well Jesus Christ!” the old man mocked in his brittle voice. “I never thought I’d lay eyes on you again. You became too much of a big shot to visit your old grandfather after you went to college then became a cop.”

Danny didn’t reply and didn’t give in to the overwhelming desire to punch the dentures out of the old man’s mouth. He walked over to the nearby window and leaned against the frame. Steve came and stood beside him, their arms pressed together.

“Mr. Reilly,” Collier interrupted trying to bring Reilly’s attention back to the Hoboken detectives. “We’re here to ask you some more questions.”

Reilly turned his wheelchair to face the local cops again.

“More questions? I told you everything I knew. Why do you keep bugging me?”

“Some new information has come up and it involves you directly,” Diaz offered.

Danny’s grandfather snorted in derision.

“What new information?”

“I told them Granddad,” Danny announced flatly from his place by the window. “I remembered and I told them everything.”

Reilly froze in shock for a moment then twisted his face into a mocking smile.

“Told them what Toad?” he spat Danny’s childhood nickname at him. “You always had a vivid imagination. What did you dream up this time?”

Before Steve could grab him, Danny stormed over to the old man and grabbed his wheelchair by the arms and jerked his grandfather around to face him.

“I told them the truth. I told them what happened that night,” Danny growled into the wrinkled old face. “I told them about seeing you in the bathroom covered with blood – Peter’s blood!”

Danny felt Steve’s hands on his biceps pulling him away from the old man. Collier had stood and was attempting to pull the old man’s wheelchair away from Danny.

“Detective Williams stop!” the older officer commanded. “You said you would let us handle this!”

Danny shoved his grandfather’s wheelchair away from himself and turned to stalk back to the window. The old man swallowed thickly and looked up at Collier with wide, frightened eyes.

“You see? You see how he is? This is why you shouldn’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth. For all I know he killed that little boy himself.”

“Why you fucking…” Steve shouted as he marched over to loom over the old man, one hand balled into a fist. This time it was Danny who pulled him away.

“Steve, babe it’s ok. It’s ok. He’s not worth it. Don’t get yourself in trouble for that old fart.”

Reilly had shrunk down in his chair and was cowering away from the angry Navy SEAL. Collier turned the wheelchair so that it was angled away from Steve and Danny and was placed directly in front of Diaz and himself. He sat down again but not before giving a warning glare to the two Five-0 partners.

“Mr. Reilly, before I ask you any questions I want to advise you that you have the right to remain silent and that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you free of charge. Do you understand your rights?”

Reilly licked his chapped lips and nodded worriedly.

“Yeah but, am I being arrested?” 

“Not at this time sir,” Diaz replied. “We just want to talk to you but my partner wanted you to know that you don’t have to talk to us without a lawyer present ok? Now, are you willing to answer our questions?”

Reilly shrugged and sat back in his chair and smiled in a way that clearly telegraphed to everyone in the room that he was in control of the situation.

“Sure. I got nothin’ to hide.”

“Mr. Reilly,” Collier began, “Your grandson, Detective Sergeant Daniel Williams, has advised us that on the night that Peter Martinelli disappeared, May 13, 1983, he observed you in his family’s bathroom washing a great deal of blood off yourself. He advised us that you threatened him if he didn’t keep quiet about what he saw. Can you tell me if this is true or not?”

Reilly glanced over his shoulder at his grandson then back to the two officers.

“He’s crazy,” Reilly snarled. “He’s always had a vivid imagination and a big mouth. He was sick that day so he probably dreamt the whole thing.”

Danny dropped his chin to his chest and fought to take regular, deep breaths to remain calm. He could feel Steve coiled and tense beside him.

“Why would he lie about something like that?” Diaz took up the line of questioning. “From what he’s said he adored you when he was a child. Why would he lie?”

“Cause he hates me for some reason After Peter went missing my grandson couldn’t stand to be around me. He wouldn’t be in the same room with me. After my daughter and son-in-law moved the family to Newark Danny pretty much had to be dragged back here to visit me.”

“Why?” Collier pressed. “Why would he suddenly turn on you?”

“I told you,” Reilly snapped back. “He hates me.”

Collier sat forward in the loveseat.

“Can you tell us again what you did on that night?”

Reilly rolled his eyes and huffed in annoyance.

“I already told you. I took care of my sick grandson, watched some TV, read a book then went to bed just after 10 p.m.”

“And at any point that day did you see Peter Martinelli?” Diaz questioned.

Reilly shrugged and examined his finger nails for a moment.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

The two Hoboken detectives looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Danny feared they either believed the old man or they were giving up based on lack of evidence. What Collier said next surprised the hell out of Danny.

“Mr. Reilly, I want you to know that I don’t believe you and I do believe your grandson. Now I’m going to be honest with you. You’re an old man and from what the staff here says you’re not very well and probably haven’t much longer to live. Even if you committed this crime it’s unlikely you’ll live long enough to be punished for it…”

“But I didn’t!” Reilly interrupted.

“…if you be honest with us about what happened, the judge might even consider your physical state when he sentences you.” 

The older detective leaned forward and put his hand over one of Reilly’s for a brief moment before pulling it away.

“Mrs. Martinelli told us how kind you had been to her son. How you took him and Danny to baseball games and taught them to catch. I believe you cared about that little boy and his mother.”

Collier paused for a long moment until the older man looked up at him.

“Mrs. Martinelli deserves closure. She’s lived with the loss of her son for 30 years. Now she needs to know why and how he died.”

Reilly stuck out his bottom lip and looked away from the officers remaining stubbornly mute.

“Granddad,” Danny spoke softly from his place by the window. “When I was a kid you always told me I had to be a man and do the right thing. If I made a mistake I had to admit it and take my punishment like a man. Now I’m asking you to do the same thing. You need to be a man and tell these guys what happened. If it’s the last thing you do in life do the right thing!”

Reilly stared over at Danny for a long moment before Collier cleared his throat to regain the old man’s attention.

“What happened that night Mr. Reilly?”

The room was deadly quiet. The volume on the TV had been turned down but the images of the game show the old man had been watching were flickering in the room. Steve held his breath as he watched Reilly staring at the floor, obviously considering his options.

“I didn’t mean to,” the old man whispered. 

Both Hoboken detectives sat up and leaned towards him.

“What?”

Reilly looked up with moist eyes.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

Diaz held his recording device closer to Reilly while Collier opened his notebook to a clean page.

“Please tell us what happened that day Mr. Reilly.”

Reilly shifted on his wheelchair and folded his gnarled hands on his lap.

“I hadn’t planned…” he shook his head and began again. “Danny came home sick and I gave him some juice and put him to bed. A little while later Peter knocked on the door looking for him. He said his ball got stuck under the boiler in the basement and he needed Danny’s help getting it out. I told him Danny couldn’t come out but that I would help him.”

Reilly swallowed hard and each of the men in the room had unconsciously leaned forward, hanging on his every word.

“I went down to the basement with him and helped him get his ball.” Reilly gave a weird, far away smile. “He was such a beautiful little boy. He had black hair and these big blue eyes. There was something magical about him…I always wanted to touch him like he was a doll.” He glared up at the two detectives. “Not in a sexual way of course, I’m not a fag, I just…I wanted to touch him for a minute.”

Steve could hear Danny’s breath coming in ragged pants and he put his arm around his partner and held him tightly.

“I-I reached out to touch him. I ran my hands over his hair and down his face and…I moved the collar of his shirt aside just a little just to see…I wouldn’t have hurt him,” Reilly continued in a pleading voice.

“What happened?” prompted Diaz, his voice tinged with disgust.

“He started screaming, started kicking up a fuss. I told him to shut up. I was afraid the building Super would hear and he’d come downstairs and get the wrong impression. He…he wouldn’t stop screaming. There was a broken screwdriver nearby, I grabbed it and I stabbed him. I didn’t mean to but he wouldn’t shut up. He screamed louder and I stabbed him again, then again.”

“How many times did you stab him?” Collier asked softly.

Reilly shrugged.

“Not sure, maybe 10 times? After a while I wasn’t thinking anymore I was just trying to make him shut up.”

“Then what happened?” Diaz pressed.

Reilly rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth. He glanced at Danny then away.

“I…all of a sudden it was like I woke up from a dream or something. He was on the floor dead and I was covered in his blood. I started panicking. I didn’t know what to do.   
I just stood there for a long time trying to think of what the hell to do. Then I remembered the wall.”

Reilly sat silently for a moment lost in his memories.

“The wall?” Collier prompted.

Reilly looked up at the men in surprise as if he’d forgotten they were in the room.

“Oh, yeah the wall. There was this weird old partially collapsed brick wall in the basement against the south side of the building. Not sure why it had been put there originally but it was a couple of feet from the original outside wall so there was a narrow space between the two. I picked up Peter and I laid him inside the space really carefully so I wouldn’t hurt him anymore. I lay him on his back and even put an old cloth under his head so his head wouldn’t touch the cold floor.” 

Reilly looked at the two detectives as if wanting them to congratulate him on how careful he’d been with the body of the boy he’d murdered.

“A day or so before this happened I told Smitrovich I’d fix the wall for 50 bucks. I had all the stuff I needed in the basement but first I had to go upstairs and wash all the blood off. Somehow I got upstairs without anyone seeing me but when I was in the bathroom Danny walked in and saw me covered with blood. He went nuts and started crying and screaming so I dragged him back to his room and told him to keep quiet about it. I tried to convince him he’d been dreaming. I got him some more juice and put in a tranquilizer pill from a bottle my daughter had in her medicine cabinet. Then I went back downstairs and fixed the wall. When Mrs. Martinelli called that night all panicked and looking for Peter I told her I didn’t know where he was. “

Reilly smirked to himself then quickly schooled his features when he remembered the officers were watching him.

“Hell I even joined the search party the next day so that they would see how upset I was about the kid’s disappearance.”

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Danny hissed from the edge of the room.

Reilly twisted on his seat and glared at his grandson.

“I said I was sorry. It was a goddamned accident. If he’d just shut up nothing would have happened to him. Besides you’re the one who kept it secret all these years.”

Danny and Diaz were just able to intercept Steve before the SEAL could grab Reilly.

 

**********

“I’m so sorry,” Danny whispered as he pressed his quivering lips together and fought back tears.

Danny and Steve were sitting in Carmela Martinelli’s neatly kept living room. The small room with its shabby but clean furniture was a shrine to her son Peter. His pictures, drawings and school ribbons decorated each wall. While she had had to move out of the old brownstone a year ago when it was converted into condominiums, she rented a small apartment two blocks away, always afraid to move too far in case Peter returned one day.

Mrs. Martinelli leaned over and laid her hand on top of Danny’s. She had been 26 and beautiful when Peter vanished. She was now 56 and although she was still a handsome woman who took pride in her appearance, losing her only child had aged her beyond her years.

“Danny, sweetie what are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Danny nodded and wiped one wet eye with the tips of his fingers.

“I did. All the time I subconsciously knew what happened. I knew my grandfather killed Peter but I locked the memories away, too scared to face them. All of this time you could have had Peter back. You could have buried him in a proper grave and eventually moved on with your life.”

Carmela Martinelli gave her son’s best friend a watery smile.

“Danny I don’t blame you for anything. You were just a little boy.” She smiled in spite of her tears. “I still remember you back then – that cloud of blonde curls and those big eyes. You looked like an angel but I knew when you and Peter did something naughty it was usually some scheme of yours. But then you’d stand in front of me and ask me not to punish Peter because whatever mischief you’d made had been your idea. I always wanted to laugh at how serious you’d looked when you did that but I always thought you were so brave to stand up to me and be honest.”

“I should have been honest about how he died,” Danny choked out.

Mrs. Martinelli squeezed his hand.

“You weren’t dishonest, you were traumatized. That horrible man traumatized and frightened you until you blocked out any memory of what happened. I’m not about to blame an eight-year-old for any of that.”

Mrs. Martinelli let go of Danny’s hand and folded hers on her lap. She sighed loudly.

“If anyone was to blame it was me. I’m the one who trusted Arnold. I was so grateful that Peter had a male role model in his life that I let Arnold take him places and look after him. I should have been more careful. I was his mother. It was my responsibility.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake stop it both of you!” Steve blurted angrily banging one hand on the arm of the chair he was occupying on the other side of the living room. Both Danny and Carmela jumped and looked over at him in shock.

“Steven!” Danny hissed in warning.

“No Danny I’ve heard enough,” Steve growled. “Listen to the two of you; two decent, caring, loving people blaming yourselves for Peter’s death. It’s ridiculous. The only person responsible for Peter’s death is Arnold Reilly. No one else. Danny you were a frightened little boy only a few years younger than Grace is now. Would you blame Grace if she were in a similar situation?”

Danny opened his mouth to answer but Steve barreled on.

“And you Mrs. Martinelli were a young, single mother struggling to make ends meet who trusted a man that everyone else in the neighbourhood seemed to trust too. You didn’t do anything wrong. Neither of you did anything wrong. You got that?”

Steve was standing by this time, fists jammed on his hips and glaring down at both of them.

A small smile twitched at the corner of Carmela Martinelli’s mouth as she turned to look at Danny, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Your young man seems very intense Danny. Is he always like this?”

Danny rolled his eyes and sighed with the weariness of the truly put upon.

“You have no idea Mrs. M. He’s bossy, controlling and an animal and he’s the burden I have to carry in life.”

Mrs. Martinelli smiled at him then looked back at Steve with an appreciative eye.

“Seems like a lovely burden to bear.”

Danny laughed and smiled over at a now blushing Steve fondly.

“Yes ma’am. I think I’m going to keep him.”

 

*********

Two months later

 

Danny opened the front door and entered the house pulling off his tie as he moved. He’d spent a long, boring and frustrating day in court waiting to be called to testify in the drug running case until being advised in the late afternoon that the defendant had decided to cut a deal and Danny’s testimony was no longer needed.

The detective dropped his tie on the coffee table then threw his jacket over the back of the easy chair. He entered the kitchen to find Steve pouring some freshly chopped vegetables into a steamer basket on the stove.

“Hey babe,” Danny greeted his boyfriend tiredly, stopping at the stove to get a kiss from the taller man.

“I hear Nakada decided to plead out.”

“Yeah,” Danny grumbled as he took a glass from the cupboard and filled it from the tap. “Fucking wasted day.”

Danny chugged down the water then set the glass aside to use later before turning to watch Steve turn down the heat under the now steaming veggies. The SEAL was going to force healthy food down Danny’s throat whether he liked it or not.

“What’s new with you?”

Steve turned to face him and the look on his face made Danny’s stomach clench in worry.

“What’s happened?” He demanded.

Steve leaned against the counter opposite to Danny.

“Your dad called about a half hour ago. Your gran-Albert Reilly died in the prison infirmary last night.”

Danny stared at him frozen in shock for a moment then sagged against the counter behind him. He shook his head in disgust. 

“He got away with it. The old bastard got away with it. I knew he’d never be punished for what he did. Never even went to trial.”

Steve crossed the kitchen and pulled Danny into his arms.

“He didn’t get away with it Danny. Thanks to you and the Hoboken police the truth has been discovered and now Mrs. Martinelli can rest knowing what happened to her son. And at the end, instead of being surrounded by a loving family in the last days of his life, Reilly died alone and hated in a prison hospital. I know it’s not enough but it’s something.”

Danny tangled his fingers in the back of Steve’s shirt.

“It’s thanks to you that he was caught babe. You forced me to go to Hoboken and you helped me discover the truth. You’ve stood beside me the whole time and I’m so grateful to you.”

Steve lifted one hand to cup Danny’s chin and look into his eyes.

“I did it because I love you. You’ve always stood beside me through all of my troubles and I will always stand beside you.”

The SEAL leaned down and caught Danny’s lips in a firm kiss. When they parted, Danny grinned up at his boyfriend.

“I don’t know babe. Mrs. Martinelli was looking at you like you were a juicy steak. I’m worried I may have some competition there.”

Steve laughed and rested his hands lightly on Danny’s hips.

“Well she is a fine woman and a wonderful cook but I prefer the short, loud, blonde type.”

“You do huh? Well how about we get married so I can hold you to that?”

Steve stared down at Danny for a moment as if checking to see if his boyfriend was joking.

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

Danny lifted a hand and ran his fingers through his lover’s hair.

“I am. If you really want to spend your life with the short, loud and blonde type.”

Steve grinned happily and leaned over to once more give Danny a resounding kiss.

“There’s nothing I want more babe.”

 

The end.


End file.
